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Easily digestible tech news....Re: Re: Re: power amplificationhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c337
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:33:36 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c337Re: Re:https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1269
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:33:26 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1269My dad lives in the middle of nowhere and gets bell satellite internet, sure, it's very capped,but he uses it like a typical almost 60 year old, pay bills, read stuff.]]>Re:https://www.techdirt.com/blog/netneutrality/articles/20150330/10173830486/verizon-ceo-pushing-congress-bipartisan-consensus-that-government-should-never-ever-stand-up-to-broadband-duopolists.shtml#c21
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:31:35 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/blog/netneutrality/articles/20150330/10173830486/verizon-ceo-pushing-congress-bipartisan-consensus-that-government-should-never-ever-stand-up-to-broadband-duopolists.shtml#c21"Time for Techdirt maybe to do a short News piece on who would be best to use for a Cell Phone."

The best deals are usually the small, local companies. Like Cricket, before that cellular telephone provider was recently bought out by AT&T.

It's a problem I've run into quite often: any small, local company that offers a great service will usually get bought out (swallowed up by a mega-corporation) sooner or later, leaving customers with fewer choices -- and hence higher prices and worse service.

Sometimes I wonder if every company's ultimate goal is to be bought out (and in many cases simply shut down), since it seems that just about every small successful company ends up that way.]]>Re: Re: Saskatchewan is the place to be, I guesshttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1245
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:31:23 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1245A high-performance disaster.https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100901/04493010855/dailydirt-gattaca-here-we-come.shtml#c355
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:30:23 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100901/04493010855/dailydirt-gattaca-here-we-come.shtml#c355I'm reminded of a friend of mine who, when considering getting a dog wanted a smart dog. She got a Labradoodle (Labrador-Poodle mix, in this case an accidental one) who was very bright, but also willful. When we think of smart dogs we think of ones who recognize commands and remember a lot of tricks but are otherwise obedient. We don't think they're going to figure out how to open refrigerators and childproof cupboards and eat all our food.

Kids are this to the next magnitude. We can expect our children are going to outsmart us and try to get away with stuff. We can only attempt to prepare them so that by the time they do, their better judgement goes with them (e.g. to find a safe environment to experiment with drugs, or a safe partner and protection when getting sexual). Add someone who is bright and talented to that, and their adventures might get ambitious, especially once they figure out that the schools and society hate our young people and regard them as a subversive factor intent on disrupting the status quo.

Also from Family Snapshot:

All turned quiet-I have been here beforeA Lonely boy hiding behind the front doorMy friends have all gone homeThere's my toy gun on the floorCome back Mum and DadYou're growing apartYou know that I'm growing up sadI need some attentionI shoot into the light -- Peter Gabriel]]>Re: As a youth I was plagued by continuous disagreements between Scantron tests and the cheap #2 penciles I was issued.https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150321/16310630398/publishers-actively-monitoring-testing-students-social-media-posts-possible-cheating.shtml#c248
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:29:42 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150321/16310630398/publishers-actively-monitoring-testing-students-social-media-posts-possible-cheating.shtml#c248I was okay with the once-a-year placement tests (and SATs) where the spots were circular, but the ones with dash-shaped rectangles always gave me trouble.argh. I had forgotten about those. I hate rectangles.]]>Re: Re: Re:https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1239
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:28:00 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1239Re: Re: Re: power amplificationhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c314
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:27:49 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c314Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1226
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:22:46 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1226Re: Astroturfinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c295
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:22:14 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c295Re: Re: You'll have to excuse me,https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/13592030490/federal-agents-investigating-silk-road-accused-stealing-bitcoin-abusing-govt-power-issuing-fake-subpoenas.shtml#c199
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:21:48 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/13592030490/federal-agents-investigating-silk-road-accused-stealing-bitcoin-abusing-govt-power-issuing-fake-subpoenas.shtml#c199It makes you think.....]]>Atypical Consumer Here...https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150327/05395130459/cord-cutting-denial-is-alive-well.shtml#c207
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:19:38 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150327/05395130459/cord-cutting-denial-is-alive-well.shtml#c207Eventually I moved somewhere that had cable, and found that the actual programming available wasn't any better than what I could get OTA, unless I wanted to subscribe to the most expensive options. Instead, I just dropped cable and contintued to get my TV OTA.

When DVDs came along, I started to augment my viewing with box sets of TV shows I'd missed/enjoyed, and then realized that the local library was also doing this -- and had started allowing you to request discs online (you'd be notified for pickup when they were available) so I started doing this. Shortly afterward, NetFlix came along, doing the same thing. I didn't bother with them, as the local library had pretty much the same selection and faster turnaround. NetFlix grew, but I already had all the evening programming I had time for, so still never subscribed.

Then YouTube came along, then Vimeo and DailyMotion, and I found that their content was more interesting than most of the stuff traditional TV was offering, so I stopped watching OTA TV and started watching streaming content instead, still borrowing box sets for TV shows that sounded interesting.

Then both Netflix and TV stations started streaming their content online. I figured "Why not?" and started watching TV this way. I quickly found out that there were really only a few shows I was interested in despite all the choice out there, but was happy to be able to watch those few. Eventually, I ran out of interesting shows on Netflix and stopped subscribing, instead subscribing to more YouTube channels.

And that's still where I am today. My foray into cable was short and underwhelming. It just wasn't worth what I paid for it, even for the basic package.

As I said, I'm not a typical consumer, but coming at cable TV not from the "this is what we've always had" angle, even 20 years ago I saw no benefit to what they were offering. HBO always went to videocassette and into the library system back in the day, and I stopped being willing to watch programming when some broadcast station thought I should the day I stopped watching OTA TV.]]>Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1203
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:19:29 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1203Re: Re: One of the Good Guyshttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/13592030490/federal-agents-investigating-silk-road-accused-stealing-bitcoin-abusing-govt-power-issuing-fake-subpoenas.shtml#c180
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:18:24 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/13592030490/federal-agents-investigating-silk-road-accused-stealing-bitcoin-abusing-govt-power-issuing-fake-subpoenas.shtml#c180Re: Re: Re: GSP not same as NJThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150327/06154630461/sanity-trademark-suit-rules-that-florida-pizza-joints-dont-compete-with-nj-turnpike.shtml#c337
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:17:31 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150327/06154630461/sanity-trademark-suit-rules-that-florida-pizza-joints-dont-compete-with-nj-turnpike.shtml#c337Re: Re: Re: Re:https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1202
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:15:13 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/01123812985/canadian-broadband-regulators-annoyed-that-people-are-pointing-out-they-dont-understand-what-theyre-regulating.shtml#c1202Re: Re: power amplificationhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c282
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:12:10 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c282The masses being more agile could pick up the technology and start running with it and even innovate with it. While the behemoth corporations could only slowly change course and are still left walking while the world around them sprint.

Case in point.When the internet first became more mainstream large corporations might have a website setup to visit. Maybe even try to sell things through the site. However agile smaller companies and individuals soon had better services and sites than any large corporation or government. Over time however large companies learned how to harness the web for their own benefit and thus their websites and services became better than any individual or small company could because the large companies have the money.

Same thing will eventually happen with social media, eventually.]]>Re: Have to admit this doesn't bother mehttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/08345330483/virginia-towns-using-federally-funded-license-plate-readers-to-collect-local-taxes.shtml#c178
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:10:25 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/08345330483/virginia-towns-using-federally-funded-license-plate-readers-to-collect-local-taxes.shtml#c178https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/17530530492/competition-music-space-is-great-fragmentation-music-space-is-dangerous.shtml#c268
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:08:55 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/17530530492/competition-music-space-is-great-fragmentation-music-space-is-dangerous.shtml#c268Regarding the 'free' music, pictures on the internet suggest that it pays enough Jay-Z to afford decent suits. Is there any information about recent earnings of Tidal's founders? Memory suggests that they have all been doing rather well recently.]]>Accountabilityhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c276
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:08:16 PDThttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/09363830485/can-you-cyberbully-corporation.shtml#c276What is the world coming to??? Better-behaved corporations??? That would be so terrible!!!! (Not!)]]>